183 Beijing Operas - Xu Qing - Number 138

Xu Qing

Beijing Opera - "Three Chivalrous and the Five Righteous"

Xu Qing with a green broken-flower face plays the third of the five sworn brothers in the opera "Three Chivalrous and the Five Righteous."

The first part of the novel tells how Xu Qing and four others, who were sworn bothers and knights errant, assisted a good judge Boa Zhen in righting the wrongs of the people and fighting corrupt officials. The second contains stories of how these knight errant themselves killed tyrants and saved innocent people. The themes of many Chinese operas are taken from this novel.